A New Beginning
by AdventureAddict
Summary: Part 3. Now that Ed and Al have gotten their bodies back and managed to defeat the homunculi, will they finally be able to settle down and live a peaceful life, or will a new enemy manage to make sure they don't? Now it's Luke's turn to join in the fun!
1. Old Friends

Hey, it's the sequel! BUT, I will NOT be joining the trilogy craze, I assure you! I hate how all stories come in threes ever since Lord of the Rings was such a success. So there will be at least one more after this story is done. –sigh- Not to say I don't enjoy it, though! I love Robyn too much to stop writing about her! And Kris! And Harley!

Ed: Hey! What about us?!

Oh yeah, and Ed and Al, of course. But I could write any fanfics I want with them. Robyn is _special_! Right, Ed?

Ed: -blushes- Hmph.

Oh yeah, and I don't suggest reading this if you haven't read The New Neighbors (#1) or A Strange Arrival (#2). Of course, go ahead if you want to, but don't say this story's stupid because you're confused. Links are on my profile. I'll give summaries to anyone who's too lazy to actually read the stories and asks me nicely.

**-sings- Not mine, not mine, Fullmetal Alchemist is not mine and never waaaaaas!**

On wit' da show!

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A New Beginning

Chapter One – Old Friends

Al smiled as he looked at Robyn and Ed on the train seat across from him. They were both sleeping peacefully even through the clattering of the train. Robyn had her head resting on Ed's shoulder, and Ed's head was resting on the top of hers. For the first time in years, Al could actually fall asleep with them, but he didn't want to. He was too anxious.

Okay, so Robyn actually looked more like Thomas than herself, but Al knew that wasn't going to last once they got to Resembool. The homunculi had been destroyed and there was no reason for her to continue disguising herself as Thomas anymore. The only reason she was still dressed as Thomas was because they were all so exhausted, and she hadn't had the time to change her appearance.

The train suddenly ground to a stop, jerking both Ed and Robyn out of their sleep. Al quickly clambered to his feet and grabbed the suitcase, impatiently waiting for Ed and Robyn to follow.

"Jeez, Al, what's the rush?" Ed asked, casually picking up the other suitcase and heading towards the door of the train.

"I think he wants to see Harley," Robyn said with a smile, and Al blushed. He knew it was true, but he didn't know it was so obvious to anybody else. He hadn't seen Harley for about three months, and when he had seen her before, he didn't have a real body. He wanted to find out everything about her that he hadn't been able to before. What did it feel like to have a hug from her after weeks on the road? What did she smell like? What did she-?

Al shook his head quickly in an attempt to clear it. He was thinking too far into this. He just had to go and show Harley what he really looked like. He couldn't go thinking about her like that.

"Shouldn't we go see Winry first?" Ed suggested, and Al hung his head in shame. Winry had been their friend much longer than Kris or Harley, and he was completely forgetting about her. Winry was the one who had stood by their side ever since they were kids. She deserved to be the one to see them first.

"Yeah," Al agreed with a sigh, feeling frustrated at the fact that for once his brother was right and thinking more politely. "Let's go see Winry first. Then we can go see Kris and Harley."

"And Ben," Robyn said with a quick smile. "I bet he's has grown since the last time we stopped here."

"I bet he has," Ed agreed with a grin as they started walking up to the Rockbell house. He then reached over and grabbed Robyn's hand while Al walked slightly behind them.

"You did it!" a female voice screamed, right before Al felt himself fall to the ground with a pair of arms wrapped tightly around him. He could tell it was Winry from the smell of oil that had suddenly invaded his nostrils.

"Let me see your arm, Ed," Winry demanded, and Al felt the pressure loosen from his chest. He pushed himself back into a standing position just in time to see Ed peel off his right glove and wave the flesh fingers in front of Winry proudly. Winry screamed again and wrapped her arms tightly around Ed's neck. Al nearly laughed when he saw Robyn standing off to the side with a pout on her lips and her arms crossed tightly across her chest.

"And what about your leg?" Winry asked as soon as she had pulled away from Ed. At the mention of his leg, Ed blushed slightly and looked down at the ground. Winry immediately sensed something was wrong, and bent down and peeled up and peeled up his left pant leg before he could protest.

"The stone gave out before I could get my leg back," Ed explained as Winry looked at the automail in surprise. "But it's okay," he said hastily, hoping to stop any tears from spilling out of Winry's eyes. "At least this way you don't lose a customer."

"Yeah, I guess," Winry said slowly, pulling Ed's pant leg down again and standing up to look him in the eye. "And you're really okay with this?" she asked, and Ed nodded quickly.

"Well, why don't come in?" Winry said quickly. "I bet you're all tired, and- Oh, Al, I'll bake you a pie!" Al laughed and ran into the house with Winry. Robyn turned to go with them, but then looked over at Ed.

"Ed?" she said softly. "Ed, what's wrong?" she persisted, wrapping her arms around his waist. Instead of responding like he usually did by hugging her back, he pulled out of her grip and clenched his hands tightly. "Ed?" Robyn said softly, touching his shoulder concernedly.

"I'm so damn selfish," Ed muttered as he looked down at the ground. "The stone had enough left in it to get one more limb back to normal. That should have been your leg. I didn't even think about how it could have helped you until now."

"Oh, Sunshine," Robyn sighed with a slight smile before wrapping her arms around him again. This time Ed didn't pull away. "That's sweet, but I wouldn't have let you. I paid the toll with this leg so that I could see you again. I knew perfectly well what would happen to me, and I was okay with it if it meant I could be with you again."

"You two better hurry up in here and help us cook this pie!" Winry called from inside the house. "If you don't work, then you don't eat!" Ed sighed and wrapped his arms around Robyn's shoulders before pushing her slightly away from him.

"That doesn't mean I still don't wish you're back to normal," Ed muttered softly, gripping her shoulders.

"I know," Robyn replied softly. "And the same goes for me. Now let's go inside before those two make the whole pie without us." Ed nodded and the two walked side-by-side into the house

T-H-I-S--I-S--A--D-I-V-I-D-I-N-G--L-I-N-E

Al squirmed nervously in his seat, staring at the empty pie plate in front of him. He didn't want to look rude by leaving Winry after not even spending a whole day with her, but he wanted to go visit Harley. Winry smiled at him as she started stacking the plates.

"You want to go see Harley, don't you?" she smiled kindly as she grabbed the plate in front of Al. Al blushed and sank deeper into his seat, starting to wish that he hadn't told Winry so much about Harley. He nodded sheepishly, making Winry's grin widen.

"Well, go on," Winry laughed, motioning towards the door. "Just be back before midnight, okay? There's still a lot of celebrating to do." Al considered her for a moment, and then excitedly jumped to his feet.

"I have to go see Ben," Robyn whispered, slightly rising from her seat. Ed grabbed her arm and pulled her back down.

"Let them have a little bit of time alone first," he whispered back. Robyn sighed, but understood Ed's point and stayed put. She knew she would have plenty of time to see Ben later. Al glanced at them quickly before excitedly dashing out the door.

He set a brisk pace as he walked the familiar path to the new kissters house. The homunculi had destroyed the first kissters house when they were forced to run to Resembool. After that, Kris had just decided that it would be easier to move into a new house in Resembool rather than going through the hassle of having Harley hide inside Al to get back to their old town again. Of course, that had made things easier for Ed and Robyn when they both had to get their automail fixed.

Al nervously knocked on the door before starting to rub his sweaty palms together. He couldn't hear the thumping of feet, but he figured that was because Claudia would freak out if people stepped on cracks. The door suddenly swung inward, revealing Harley with her long pink hair flowing around her.

"Can I help you?" she asked, cocking her head to one side as she looked at Al. Al would have grinned at the fact that she didn't recognize him if he weren't so nervous.

"It's me," he said softly, looking Harley in the eyes while continuing to nervously rub his hands together. "I'm... I'm Al. I got my body back." Harley's eyes widened considerably before she quickly threw her arms around Al's neck. Al felt blood rush to his face before he suddenly realized how nice it felt and wrapped his arms around Harley. He would have spun her around in a circle if he didn't realize that would take her out of the house and make her freak out.

"Oh, Al, I can't believe it," Harley whispered as she pulled away from him, cupping his face in her hands. Al couldn't stop himself from grinning broadly as her thumbs rubbed gently against his cheeks. Her hands then ran up his cheeks until her fingers were entwined in his short tan hair, making goosebumps run down Al's spine.

Harley smiled warmly at him and finally pulled away from him, making Al suddenly feel cold from the loss of her body heat. Harley then reached down and grabbed his hand to pull him into the house.

"I really missed you, Harley," Al said softly as she pushed him on the couch and sat down next to him.

"I really missed you too, Unicorn," Harley said, and then paused. "Wait… I can't call you that anymore, can I?" she said softly, tapping one finger against Al's forehead. "You don't really have a horn anymore."

"You can call me that if you want," Al said softly, feeling himself blushing again. He just couldn't seem to stop himself when he was around Harley.

"No," Harley said firmly, shaking her head back and forth. "You're just Alphonse Elric now, like you should have always been. I won't call you Unicorn anymore." Al nodded silently.

"So are you going to stop travelling now, or something?" Harley continued. Al sighed and rested his head on the back of the couch.

"I don't know if Brother _can_ stop travelling," he muttered. "But… with Robyn around, he might just stop and start to take it easy now. I know that I would like to just get a nice home somewhere around here and relax."

"That's it?" Harley said, cocking her head to one side. "Just relax? That's all you want to do with the rest of your life?"

"Well, no," Al admitted sheepishly, feeling his blushing problem attack him with full force. "I would like to get married and raise a family someday. But that's probably years into the future. I mean, I am only seventeen. There's plenty of time for that later, right?" Harley smiled and nodded in agreement.

"So tell me everything that happened since I last saw you," Harley pleaded. Al smiled and launched into his story.

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Okay, I'll admit it, it's a little short. Sorry! But that's mostly so that I can save the fun part for the next chapter. –evil smirk- Harley and Al are just too cute, though! I want to focus more on them than Ed and Robyn in this story, though of course there will still be plenty of bits with Robyn and Ed in here. You'll just have to wait and see… ;)


	2. Simple Question

Man, I read the rest of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga online. And… wow. Arakawa is a genius. It was so amazing, despite the few translation problems that could make it hard to read at times. And Hohenheim-! –grabs him and gives him a hug despite his and Ed's protests- I'm sorry I ever hated you! You didn't deserve it! Waaaah!

Ed: I'm just going to back away slowly now…

-sings- Not mine, not mine, Fullmetal Alchemist is not mine and never waaaaaas!

Get on with it! Yeah, get on with it!

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Chapter Two – Simple Question

"Hey, do you want to go for a walk?" Ed asked Robyn as Winry started to clean the dishes. Robyn grinned and stood up.

"Let me change first," she told Ed. "I'm tired of looking like this. You tell Winry about it while I'm gone so that she's not too freaked out, okay?" Ed gulped, but nodded in agreement, wondering how he was going to break it to Winry.

At first Ed had been reluctant to tell Winry that Robyn was Thomas and that he, Ed, was gay, but as he quickly realized that she could be in danger if she knew who Robyn really was, he decided to tell her a big, fat lie for the first time in his life.

And Winry had been finally getting used to it, but now Ed had to go and tell her that 'Thomas' had really been a girl in disguise since the day they had met. Who knew how many times she would use her wrench tonight.

"Um, Winry?" Ed said nervously, and she looked up from the dishes. "Look, about Thomas…" he paused and then quickly plunged in. "Thomas has really been a girl disguised as a guy all this time. But we didn't tell you the truth because anybody who knew was in danger with the homunculi, but now that they're all gone we can finally tell you. And please don't be mad!" Winry blinked a couple times, and then went back to scrubbing the plate.

"So what's her real name?" Winry asked calmly, making Ed be the one to blink in surprise.

"Robyn," he said slowly. Winry nodded as she dried off the plate and put it on the rack to dry. She looked silently at Ed for a moment before clomping up to the bathroom where Robyn was changing. Ed heard a few shouts from both girls and winced in his seat.

Ed had lost track of time by the time Winry came back into the room wearing a triumphant smirk on her face. She then went over to the dry dishes and started putting them away as if nothing had happened.

"Promise you won't laugh!" Robyn called from the hallway, where Ed couldn't see her.

"Why would I laugh?" Ed called back with a sigh. He was starting to get the feeling that Winry had forced Robyn to wear something against her will. He could practically feel her getting frustrated from her position, so he quickly added, "I promise."

Robyn slowly walked into the kitchen, and Ed could practically feel his jaw drop to the floor in surprise. The red and black contacts were out of her eyes, leaving her eyes the old purple they once were, her hair was slightly longer and black again, back to its old style, and her chest was no longer flat like a boy's. But the most surprising change was the fact that she was wearing a curve hugging t-shirt and a shirt that cut off just past her knees, one flesh and the other automail. Ed could barely manage to mouth the word 'wow.'

"So are we going for that walk or not?" Robyn sighed. Ed nodded and quickly stood up. Robyn laughed slightly and followed behind him, with Winry nearly bursting out in laughter from the sink. Fighting with Robyn to get her in that outfit was definitely worth it to see Ed's reaction.

Robyn and Ed walked slowly down the street, happy just to be near each other. Robyn slowly looked over at Ed and, noticing the worried look on his face, reached over and gently held his hand in hers.

"Robyn," Ed whispered softly, turning to look her in the eye as they walked. "Do you know I love you?"

"Of course," Robyn said with a small smile and squeezed his hand. "And I love you too, you know." Ed smiled back weakly and looked down at the road instead.

"I-" Ed started, then stopped and bit his lip nervously. "I want to-" he stopped again, noticing something sticking out of the mud by the side of the road. He curiously bent down and picked it up with Robyn trying to look over his shoulder.

"What is it?" Robyn asked, and Ed grinned as he wiped the mud off the small object. It seemed that finally, _finally_, the fates were on his side.

"It's a ring," he said slowly, turning it over in his hands. It wasn't an expensive ring, it was the type of ring that was given out by children at parties and made of plastic. But it was still a ring.

"Robyn," Ed said slowly turning to face her before he felt himself crouch on one knee. He could feel Robyn's surprise as he knelt before her, and would have grinned if it weren't for the utter shock that was clutching at his own chest. He couldn't believe what he was doing, and yet it felt so… _right_.

"I love you so much," he said softly. "And all I want to do is spend the rest of my life with you. Would you," he paused and licked his lips, unsure of how to precisely phrase the question.

"Yes," Robyn said softly before he could even try to finish the question. "Yes, of course, Ed." She then knelt down beside him and threw her arms around him in a tight hug.

"_And don't take __too__ long. Girls can get impatient at times. Even though I have a feeling that Roberta would wait by your side for years…"_ Roy's voice from a year ago drifted through Ed's mind.

'_Damn you, Mustang,'_ Ed thought silently. _'Why do you always have to be right?' _His train of thought suddenly stopped when he felt wetness on his cheeks.

"Robyn?" he said softly, turning his face into her black hair. "Robyn, what's wrong? Please don't cry…" he murmured as he started to rub her back with one hand, wondering if he should have waited until he had a proper ring. Girls could get sensitive about things like that.

"I'm not sad," Robyn hiccupped. "I'm just so happy… I didn't think you would just… out of the blue… I can't believe it…" Ed pulled away from her slightly to look her in the eyes.

"I didn't mean to surprise you like that," he said gently, and Robyn smiled weakly. "How about… how about we go get some real rings and just… just… I dunno… watch the sunset?" Robyn nodded silently and let him help her to her feet.

By the time Ed and Robyn got back to the Rockbell house, it was dark, and Al still wasn't home. Ed sighed and pulled his coat back on again as soon as he heard the news from Winry.

"I'll be back soon," he assured Robyn quickly with a hug and a peck on the cheek, keeping contact with her low while he was in the presence of Winry. "Hopefully I'll have Al with me and we can all really celebrate." Robyn nodded, and Ed walked out the door.

He paused slightly before turning and walking in the opposite direction of the kissters house. Winry had said for him to be home by midnight, and it was only eight thirty now. Ed figured he had enough time for a detour.

"Hey, mom," Ed said softly as he came to stand in front of the familiar grave. "Sorry I don't have any flowers today. To be honest, I didn't think I'd be seeing you. But I… I proposed to this girl today. You remember the Robyn girl I kept telling you about?" Ed continued, now smiling openly at the cold rock.

"Yeah, me and her are going to get married. It seems like life is finally going well for once. I got Al back to normal and got back my arm, the homunculi are gone, and once we're done here, I'm going to march into Mustang's office and quit. I don't need to be in the military anymore.

"Anyway, I wish you could meet her, mom. I think you'd like her. She's just so nice… and beautiful… and she's really smart too, you should see her do alchemy. And… she's just great, mom. And I'm going to marry her. I still can't believe that I actually managed to pull myself together and propose to her. I wanted to tell you that.

"And I think that Al's got a crush on Harley," Ed added with a grin. "He's been at her house for hours now, and every time he starts talking about her, he ends up blushing. Speaking of Al, I should probably get going soon and drag him back to the house," Ed sighed, then leaned forward and lightly kissed the top of the grave. "I'll come back and visit you tomorrow, mom."

T-H-I-S--I-S--A--D-I-V-I-D-I-N-G--L-I-N-E

Ed nearly laughed out loud when he walked into the living room of the kissters house. Al and Harley were both asleep on the couch together, with Harley's head resting in Al's lap and Al's arm wrapped around her waist. Ed grinned slightly to himself, then walked over and lightly shook Al.

"Hey Romeo, Winry wants you back at the house," Ed laughed. Al's eyes slowly cracked open and then bugged in surprise when he realized the position he was in. He quickly pulled his hand off Harley's waist and looked up at Ed with big eyes.

"Help me, Brother," he whispered worriedly as a blush stained his cheeks. Ed grinned and slowly helped Al pull Harley off his lap enough so that he could escape. Al then grabbed a blanket off the back of the couch and carefully draped it over Harley.

"How late is it?" Al asked as the two brothers started walking back to the Rockbell house. Ed grinned again and jammed his hands in his pockets. He just couldn't stop smiling today. It felt like he was on the top of the world.

"Not that late," Ed shrugged as he walked. "But I know Winry wants to celebrate the fact that you're back to normal." Al smiled and nodded in agreement.

"So, Brother, does Robyn look like herself again yet?" Al asked with a mischievous smirk. Ed grinned nervously and scratched the back of his head with his left hand.

"Well, yes and no," Ed said slowly. "Winry forced her to put on a skirt right before we went for a-"

"What's that on your hand?" Al asked suddenly. Ed jerked and shoved his left hand back into his pocket.

"Um, nothing!" Ed said quickly as he felt blood rush to his face now instead of Al's. "Why would you think there's something on my hand?! There's nothing there! Nope, nothing!" he told Al in one breath, keeping his left hand shoved in his pocket while he waved his right hand quickly.

"You proposed to Robyn?" Al laughed, and Ed's blush deepened, even though he knew it was his brother talking to him. "You're actually going to get married, Brother?! When?" Ed shrugged simply and pulled his left hand out of his pocket.

"I have no clue. I still have to figure out how to tell Winry," Ed sighed. "And then I'm going to march into Mustang's office and shove my resignation papers in his smart-ass face." The two had then reached the house, and they slowly walked in.

"Did you tell mom?" Al asked softly.

"Right before I went to get you," Ed replied. "But I figured I'd give her a more proper visit tomorrow. I was kinda rushed today and I just wanted to share the news with somebody." Al nodded in understanding.

"Look who's back," Winry grinned as she walked out into the room, placing her hands on her hips. "Did you enjoy your time with Harley, Al?" Al blushed and then nodded gratefully, glad that he had been able to see Harley sooner than he had originally thought.

"Hey, Al," another voice said, and Al could feel his jaw drop in surprise as Robyn walked into the room. She really did look like an entirely different person. It even looked like Winry had forced a bit of makeup on her.

"We're going to roast marshmallows in the backyard," Robyn said, ignoring Al. "I already got the fire started." Ed grinned, remembering all the times he had seen her use her alchemy. They had gotten in plenty of fights (only a handful with each other) during the time they had been on the road.

"Great," Ed said excitedly, walking quickly towards the backyard, grabbing Robyn's hand as he did so. "Al, are you coming, or what?"

"Huh?" Al jerked out of his thoughts and looked at his brother. "Yeah, I'm coming," he smiled weakly and followed after them. His mind was too full after spending hours with Harley for him to even think about eating roasted marshmallows, but he would do it to make his brother happy.

"Hey, Ed, what's that on your finger?" Winry asked curiously as the four walked outside. Ed gulped nervously and squeezed Robyn's hand a little tighter.

"A ring, what's it look like?" he said, trying to sound more confident than he felt.

"On your left hand?" Winry said with a laugh. "Ed, if you're going to wear a ring, you should wear it on your right hand. The left hand means you're married."

"Or engaged," Ed said simply. "And I know." Winry was silent for a moment as his words sunk in, and then she jumped in shock.

"YOU'RE _WHAT_?!"

"Eh heh," Ed said nervously as he scratched the back of his head. "Surprise, Winry?" Al snickered from behind them.

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Sorry, there wasn't quite so much HarleyAl this chapter. I do love those two together, but I had to put in the bit with Ed and Robyn first. XD Three guesses who the best man is going to be, lol. Oh yeah, and Merry Hannawanzmas! Though I personally celebrate Christmas and get to open my presents TONIGHT because we always open them on Christmas Eve. Haha!


	3. Luke’s Discovery

Yes, yes, I know, it took me forever to write this. I'm sorry about that. The problem was, I kept trying to write a different scene than what I have now, and it just never really felt right. Then I thought of this idea, and the words just didn't stop coming, haha. So enjoy the long overdue chapter, finally. Eh heh.

**-sings- Not mine, not mine, Fullmetal Alchemist is not mine and never waaaaaas!**

Get on with it! Yeah, get on with it!

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Chapter Three – Luke's Discovery

"Dad?" Luke called out when he heard the familiar slam of the front door. He pushed himself off the sofa and quickly walked over to greet the exhausted man. Luke knew that his dad had been very hurt by the death of his daughter, and the man seemed to pour all his time into working so he would be distracted.

"Hey, Dad, you want me to cook you some dinner?" Luke asked as his father silently collapsed onto the sofa. The worn man nodded, so Luke walked into the kitchen and started pulling out ingredients for a chicken alfredo.

As he worked, he felt his thoughts wandering back to Robyn, as he usually did. Her death had been so strange and sudden that he hadn't really had a chance to recover. And there had also been that strange blond boy at her funeral that Luke kept wondering about.

After Luke had given his father dinner, he got up and wandered around the house mindlessly. He had already eaten, so he wasn't really hungry for more food. Besides, he knew that his dad liked to always have a little time to himself after work.

Before he even knew what was happening, he found himself in Robyn's old room. He slowly reached out and flipped the light switch, letting the room be enveloped in light.

The familiar black walls with pink lettering suddenly sprang into view, and Luke felt his throat tighten at the sight. He slowly walked over to the corner and picked up the blue electric guitar, grimacing when he felt the layer of dust coating it.

Suddenly, he spotted a stack of papers on Robyn's desk, and he curiously walked over and picked them up, still holding the guitar in one hand. He could tell from the handwriting that the papers were from his mother, who probably had the neatest handwriting in the world.

_I have been trying for years to figure out a way to make a Philosopher's Stone without human sacrifices, but so far I haven't had any luck. And now I am trapped in this world without Alchemy. This is the farthest I think I will ever be able to get my research, but I don't even know if this one will work._

_If my research is right, then this transmutation circle should cut down the needed sacrifice of the Philosopher's Stone drastically. Hopefully down to about one limb, which might even be able to be restored with the stone once it was complete. But I do not know whether this will work or not, since I have been performing all my experiments without any Alchemy at all. And I do not think I will ever get a chance to test it either…_

Luke frowned as he looked over the circle on the piece of paper. It looked very complicated, but at the same time it reminded him of the geometric designs Robyn used to draw as a little girl.

"What the hell is this?" he muttered, turning the piece of paper over. He then noticed that by picking the paper up he had uncovered one of Robyn's mangas, one with the title of "Fullmetal Alchemist."

He slowly reached down and picked it up, staring at the cover in disbelief. There, right on the cover (albeit looking a bit more 2-D) was the same boy he had seen at Robyn's funeral. And there was the same man in a suit of armor that had confused Luke so much.

He slowly flipped through the book before stopping and staring at a page in disbelief. There were strange geometric circles throughout the entire book that were similar to the one he clutched in his hand. Circles that were similar to the ones Robyn had once drawn.

Circles that were similar to the ones that haunted his dreams.

Luke rubbed his chin thoughtfully before turning around and heading back out into the living room, making sure to turn off the lights behind him. He carefully held his mother's notes in one hand, and Robyn's book in the other. He didn't know what Robyn had managed to learn from the two sources, but he intended to find out.

"Dad," he said softly, sitting down on the sofa. "Can you tell me more about Mom?" Luke knew that the subject was a bit touchy with his father, but he knew he had to figure out the sudden mystery he had discovered in Robyn's room. "Where was she born?"

Luke's father looked over at him with wide eyes, not seeming to notice the two objects clutched in Luke's hands. He tried to raise a hand to wave the question off, but Luke leaned forward and stared intently at him. Luke's father sighed and leaned back into the sofa.

"You and Mom… aren't from this world, are you?" Luke asked slowly, looking down at the piece of paper with his mom's handwriting on it. "What's this alchemy Mom wrote about? Is that how you got here?"

"No," Luke's father shook his head. "We used a chemical mixture that I made. We came here before you were born. It broke Lizzie's heart to leave her father, but we had to escape from the psycho that wouldn't leave her alone."

"So that's why we never met our grandparents?" Luke prodded, and his father nodded guiltily.

"Your mother actually named you and your sister after two people her father kept talking about," Luke's father added, and Luke leaned forward curiously. "She didn't want to name you directly after them though, so she gave you a different first name, but then used your middle name to name you after a boy by the name of Edward Elric. Her father was always talking about how that boy just suddenly disappeared one day, along with his brother and his wife."

"So who was Robyn named after?" Luke asked softly.

"Your grandfather's only apprentice, Roberta Elric," His father told him softly. "Edward Elric's wife. Lizzie didn't want to pin everything Roberta did on her daughter though, so she made sure we always called Roberta by Robyn instead, so she could be her own person."

"Edward and Roberta Elric…" Luke muttered softly. He then looked down at the cover of the manga he was holding before holding it out to his dad. "And what about this kid? Who is he?" Luke asked, and his father curiously took the book from him.

"That's Edward Elric himself," Luke's father said in surprise as he looked at the drawing of the blond boy. "His title in the military was the Fullmetal Alchemist." Luke took back the book and looked at it curiously.

"So what you're telling me is that this kid in a book that's supposedly fictional is actually real?" Luke asked slowly, and his father nodded. Luke opened his mouth to ask another question just as the doorbell rang. Luke slowly got up and walked to the door, only to find Kari there.

"Luke, I need your help," Kari said worriedly. "Did you ever meet a friend of Robyn's whose name was Ed? I think that he might really be… I'm not sure, but he might be…"

"He's really the Fullmetal Alchemist?" Luke supplied, and Kari's mouth dropped open in surprise. "I just figured that out myself right now. What made you think that he was the real Edward Elric?"

"Because…" Kari said slowly, "I just found out that the kid who sits next to me in my math class is really Harry freaking Potter! And then I remembered how Robyn said that her Ed really was Edward Elric, and I thought that maybe she had been right all this time. Now I feel like shit."

"You have math class with Harry Potter?" Luke repeated disbelievingly, and Kari nodded quickly. "So Robyn knew that her friend Ed was really Edward Elric?"

"Yeah, she tried to convince me, but I didn't believe her," Kari said frantically. "I'm such a horrible friend!"

"Maybe…" Luke said slowly, considering all the different information he had learned in one night. "Maybe Robyn didn't really die. Maybe she faked her death and went off to this other world…"

"Amestris," Kari supplied. "And she didn't fake her death. I saw her in the hospital. Whatever was happening to her really happened and really did hurt her." Luke frowned and looked back down at the paper in his hands.

"I don't believe she's dead," Luke said softly. "I refuse to believe it. Something about it has just never felt quite right. Besides, haven't you ever heard that unless you have a body, you can never truly prove that someone is dead?"

"Luke…" Kari said slowly. "I don't know if…"

"Kari, you said you didn't believe Robyn before, and now you feel crummy because of it," Luke said gently, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Have some faith in her now, okay?" Kari opened her mouth, but then closed it and nodded with a smile.

"Now, you should probably go home," Luke said with a smile. "It's late, and I bet your parents are worried about you. I'll talk to you more about this tomorrow."

"Yeah, alright," Kari said with a slight yawn. She turned to go, but then suddenly remembered something and looked back at Luke. "Thanks, Luke," she said softly. "I'm so glad you came back."

"Me too," Luke grinned at her before closing the door and going back in the house. His dad was still on the sofa, seemingly deep in thought.

"So, Dad, you and Mom came here with a chemical mixture?" Luke asked, sitting down next to him on the sofa again. "Do you… do you think you could duplicate it?"

"What are you suggesting?" Luke's father asked slowly, and Luke sighed.

"I think that Robyn might be in Ama- Amer- Ames-whatever," Luke said, stumbling over the unfamiliar name. "And if she is, we have to get there to find her. Who knows if she's in trouble or something like that."

Luke's father paused in consideration for a moment before his eyes suddenly lit up in anticipation. Luke looked at him in surprise. It was the first time he had seen his father get excited about something since before his mother's death.

"I think I kept some notes on the formula," Luke's father said quickly. "If I can get the right chemicals, then I could probably duplicate the mixture."

"Great," Luke smiled. "I'll help you find the right chemicals, and we'll work on it together." He then paused and glanced at the clock, realizing just how late in the night it had become. "But for now, I think I'm going to go to bed," he added with a slight yawn, wondering how Kari had managed to get to his house at such a late hour.

Luke got up and slowly walked down the hallway to his room, putting his hand out to touch the wall as he walked and clutching the manga and piece of paper in his other hand. He paused when he came across a doorway, the same doorway that he had accidentally left open in his curious haste.

Luke sighed and flicked on the light of Robyn's room a second time. He then walked up to her desk and carefully put the two objects back where he had found them. In fact, he could put them in the exact same spot due to the square shaped patch of desk that didn't have any dust covering it.

He then turned around the room a few times, absorbing the sight of his sister's room. The room had laid untouched for nearly all the two years since Robyn's funeral, due to the fact that neither Luke nor his father wanted to deal with the pain associated with the room. The room was the same way as it had been before Robyn had gone to the neighbor's house for Thanksgiving while their dad was on a business trip.

Luke paused as his thoughts wandered back to the same blond boy he had been thinking about for most of the night. He knew that the boy had been the foster child of a couple by the name of Elliott. The two had been extremely distressed by the disappearance of Edward. Luke could remember that they had refused to give up the search for Ed until a whole year had gone by and most people considered him to be dead.

Somehow, that blond boy – Edward Elric – was the missing link in the chain, and Luke intended to solve the problem as he had usually done.

Luke then sighed and slowly walked towards the doorway, running his fingers over an old framed picture of him and Robyn back before their mother had died. Things had been so much simpler then, not such a muddled mess. Luke shook his head and placed his fingers over the light switch by the doorway.

"I swear, little sister, I will find you someday, no matter what it takes," Luke said softly. He then turned off the lights and went to his own bed a room away.

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Ah ha ha ha!!! I finished it! Be proud of me, be very proud! Again, I apologize profusely for the stupid delay in this, but hopefully I'll have gotten over that hurdle now. :D Now show your appreciation and review, lovely readers! I command thee!!


	4. The Tale of the Tomato

Yeah, yeah, I know, it's been awhile. Didya know that you haven't gotten to hear about Robyn and Ed since Christmas Eve? Time to change that, I suppose, before Robyn throws a lamp or something at me. So, yeah, heh, sorry about the delay, once again. Thanks very much to auricvision to providing me with inspiration that will probably make this much easier to update for a bit. ;)

-sings- Not mine, not mine, Fullmetal Alchemist is not mine and never waaaaaas!

Get on with it! Yeah, get on with it!

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Chapter Four – The Tale of the Tomato

"Robyn?" Ed whispered softly, poking his head into the room. "Hey, Robbie, are you awake?" Robyn moaned and rolled onto her side, making Ed sigh heavily.

"Since when do you call me Robbie?" she finally muttered in a low voice that was absolutely dripping with sleepiness. Ed considered the question for a moment as he played his words back in his head, and then realized that he had indeed called her that.

"Since today, I guess," he shrugged with a smirk. He didn't even know why he had called her that, but now he was going to stick to it. After all, she called him Sunshine all the time, not his most favorite of nicknames, but better since it came from Robyn. It was just Equivalent Exchange to call her something in return, right?

"So what's up?" Robyn said, turning to peek a pair of purple eyes at him out from her pillow. Ed just shrugged and leaned against the doorframe.

"Can you just not sleep or something?" Robyn asked, and Ed frowned in a way that she knew meant 'Yes, but I don't want to admit it' on Ed. She smiled and shook her head, deciding not to push the matter any further.

"What time is it?" Robyn asked, turning her head back into her pillow with a sigh. Ed glanced around the room twice before noticing that there weren't any clocks in the room, and he didn't have his pocket watch either since he hadn't bothered to get dressed.

"Um… early, I guess," Ed guessed with a shrug, earning a laugh from Robyn.

"Early enough for Ben to be up, you think?" she asked, turning to look at Ed again. "I still have to somehow tell him that I'm not really Thomas." She thought for a moment, then grimaced and added, "Plus Kris will probably want to commandeer my leg. Usually the people in that house end up rising with the sun, so I think it'll be fine…"

Robyn paused and looked over at Ed, who seemed lost in thought. "Sunshine? Are you okay?" she asked softly, and Ed blinked in surprise before shaking his head as if he was clearing it.

"I'm fine," he said softly, looking down at the floor instead of at Robyn.

"Don't you dare give me that crap," Robyn snapped, making Ed turn to look at her quickly. "I know something's up, so tell me what it is." Ed sighed and ran a hand through his bangs.

"I guess… I'm just nervous about this whole thing…" Ed said slowly after a minute. "I didn't ever really think that… I dunno, it's just kinda hard to imagine…" He trailed off slowly with a sigh as he began to nervously scratch the back of his head. Robyn smiled slightly before pushing herself out of bed. She then walked over to Ed and hugged him tightly.

"I know, Ed," she whispered softly, and then pulled away slightly to look at him. "Getting married is a pretty scary thought. It's a big change, and we won't really be able to go back easily either. But we don't have to get married right away either, you know," she said softly, and Ed looked up at her with wide eyes. "We could just wait until it's not quite so scary."

"That sounds good," Ed said with a small smile. He then paused for a moment before adding with a grin, "So, are you going to go visit Ben in just your pajamas?"

"No," Robyn shook her head and stuck out her tongue. "Would you wait for me for a minute?"

"Uh, duh," Ed laughed, before pushing her towards the dresser and then closing the bedroom door behind him with a click. He figured he might as well leave her alone while she got dressed. She didn't care about him sticking around sometimes, but other times she ended up snapping at him, so Ed figured it'd be better to be safe than sorry.

T-H-I-S--I-S--A--D-I-V-I-D-I-N-G--L-I-N-E

Robyn and Ed stood outside on the porch of the Kissters house. Ed knocked on the door, then paused and looked over at Robyn. She seemed nervous from the way she was wringing her hands and how sweat was sliding down her forehead. He reached over and gently stilled her hands by clasping them in his own before leaning over and giving her a light kiss on the cheek.

"It'll be fine," he whispered, and Robyn looked over at him with wide eyes. She opened her mouth and was about to say something when the door suddenly swung inward.

"Edward."

"Roberta."

Both spun their heads quickly to look at who was addressing them so coldly, when they saw that Winry and Kris were standing side by side in the open doorway. Both Ed and Robyn's eyes widened as they took in the situation in front of them.

"Oh shiiit…" Robyn muttered, clutching at Ed's hands.

"Holy crap…" Ed said softly, and Winry smirked.

"How could you treat her masterpiece like that, you asshole?!" Kris shouted before reaching out and grabbing Ed by the ear and dragging him forward while he protested quickly.

"And why don't you perform regular maintenance?!" Winry demanded before grabbing Robyn tightly by the arm and dragging her into the house. Robyn tried to say how she had tried her best to keep up maintenance, but things had kept getting in the way, but none of it deterred Winry at all.

"Hey, you're here too?" Ed said in surprise as he saw Al and Harley bent over a book in the living room. Al looked up in surprise, then grinned and waved cheerfully at Ed. "But-! Hey! Al! You've got to help me!" Ed yelled as Kris dragged him upstairs.

"Sorry, Brother, you're on your own!" Al called out cheerfully, only leading to even angrier shouts of protest from Ed as he was carted away. Robyn just sighed and meekly followed behind Winry like a puppy with its tail between its legs.

Ed and Robyn were then both shoved onto beds in the workroom, and Kris and Winry switched charges before Robyn or Ed had a chance to escape, and then rolled up the pant legs of both. The two both then swiftly flipped some switches and simultaneously pulled out both Ed and Robyn's automail legs before hoisting them up on their shoulders and grinning at each other.

"I say we don't give them spring-powered legs while we manage to fix up what they've fouled up this time," Winry smirked mischievously.

"I think the two assholes deserve it," Kris agreed with a nod. The two girls then smiled at each other and walked out of the room side by side, leaving Ed and Robyn to stare after them.

"Ho-ly crap," Ed repeated as he stared after them. "Robyn, did we ever make any plans for if the world was destroyed? Because I don't think it will last until next Tuesday."

"Why Tuesday?" Robyn asked with a laugh. "What's so special about Tuesday?"

"Because…" Ed started slowly, then stopped and shook his head instead. "No, scratch that, they'd destroy the world on a Monday. Mondays always suck." Robyn laughed again, and then the two fell into silence as they each stared at their missing leg.

"I'm booored," a voice suddenly called out, and Robyn perked up in surprise just as Ben walked calmly into the room. He ignored Robyn completely and instead walked over to Ed's side, making Robyn's face fall slightly.

"Eeeed, where's Thomas?" Ben sighed heavily, putting his chin on the bed beside Ed's leg.

"Thomas…?" Ed said slowly, glancing around Ben to look over at Robyn. She winced slightly as he looked at her, and then turned her head to look out the window instead. "Thomas isn't here right now," Ed told Ben slowly. "But I'm sure that Robyn over there would be happy to try and help get rid of your boredom."

Ben picked up his head and turned to look at Robyn curiously. The two locked eyes with each other for a minute, and the Ben grinned and waved at Robyn.

"Do you know any good stories?" Ben asked, and Robyn laughed.

"Of course we do," she said quickly, making Ben's face light up. "Ed, help me tell the story, alright?" Ed was a bout to open his mouth to protest when Robyn jumped in with "Once upon a time…" She then paused, bit her lip in consideration, and then said, "Uh, you go, Ed."

"Huh?" Ed said, perking up in surprise, but then noticing Robyn's look directed towards him, said quickly, "Uh, there was a… tomato?"

"A _happy _tomato," Robyn corrected with a grin.

"A hap-" Ed started repeating, then stopped, and wrinkled his eyebrows in confusion at what he was saying. "Wait, what? How the hell is the tomato happy?"

"It's not being eaten!" Robyn explained quickly with a grin, and Ben nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

"Duh," Ben stated simply, crossing his arms across his chest.

Ed gaped at the two in amazement before finally managing to say. "…Right. Brilliant, Robyn."

"Thank you, Ed," she replied, and Ed got the feeling that she was only barely managing to hold her amusement rather than bursting out into hysterical giggles on the spot.

"And the…uh, _happy_ tomato decided to…" Ed paused, unsure of what to say next. What would tomatoes decide to do when they were celebrating not being eaten, anyway?

"To go dancing," Robyn interjected quickly, earning a laugh from Ben, who was now sitting beside her instead of Ed.

"What?" Ed said, shaking his head as he tried to figure out what was going on. How could one story turn into something so crazy so quickly? "What the hell have you been snorting, Robyn?" he demanded, and was pleased to see her just barely hold on to her calm exterior.

"Nothing," she answered simply. "And at the dance, the tomato met a beautiful sprig of parsley," she said, jumping right back into the story.

"A wha-? Ed repeated, feeling like he had to be on some crazy show or something. Who in their right mind would just sit around telling crazy stories about dancing tomatoes and parsley? "Do I have to keep this up?" he asked, and Robyn just nodded with a grin.

"Alright, fine," Ed said with a heavy sigh, but also realizing that he was partly enjoying the story, crazy as it was. "But the tomato couldn't talk to the parsley because he was too shy," Ed said, sure he had finally given a satisfactory response.

"But I said he already _met_ her," Robyn protested quickly. "Doesn't that count as talking?"

"What?" Ed said, looking over at her, and then sighed and held a hand to his forehead. "I don't care."

"I'm sure the tomato cares," Robyn said stubbornly as she crossed her arms across her chest. Ed scowled and looked back up at her.

"Well, I don't care what the tomato cares about," he retorted quickly, and then ran over his words in his head for a minute before deciding that it actually did make sense, so he was alright.

"Well, I care about the tomato," Robyn said back coolly, and Ed felt his fists clench instinctively. He wasn't truly that mad at Robyn and what she was just doing, he just didn't want to hear anymore about the tomato that he hadn't even wanted to hear about in the first place.

It didn't have anything to do with the fact that he couldn't seem to win with Robyn and this strange story competition, no.

"Then go marry the fucking tomato!" Ed snapped at her, and Robyn nearly laughed before turning to Ben.

"Go slap Ed and the wrists," she told Ben, who grinned and nodded quickly. "He should know better than to say words like that around you." Ed just scowled and stuck his tongue out at Robyn.

"Oh yeah, real mature one you are, Ed," she laughed, and Ed's frown deepened.

"I don't care," he muttered just as Ben scurried over and gave Ed a good whack across the wrists, leading to more cursing from Ed, and more slapping from Ben on the orders of Robyn.

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Tada! I did it! Be proud of me. :D And yes, I know, the tomato story is rather… random, to say the least, but I just had to put that in there after it popped into my head, haha. I was cracking up at the thought of it, so I hope you guys enjoyed it as well. Now I still have inspiration for this chapter, so the updates will continue to come! Wahoo!


	5. Looming Clouds

Well, this beginning might be a little confusing for a bit until things finally pan out, but bear with me a bit, alright you guys? Actually the whole idea is going to still be a bit confusing even once everything has been figured out, but it will be _less_ confusing, hopefully. Yeah, I'm kinda-almost babbling, soooo…

**-sings- Not mine, not mine, Fullmetal Alchemist is not mine and never waaaaaas!**

Get on with it! Yeah, get on with it!

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Chapter Five – Looming Clouds

"Ow! Winry! Stop it! Leggo of me! Couldn't you just fix my automail the normal way? Hey! Ow!"

"What, the normal way as in taking it out and then putting it back in? Would you prefer that? Now stop squirming, you big overgrown baby!"

"Well, it's always good to know that I'm big for my age and will have food brought to me if I scream. Ow! Hey, why're you hitting a baby with a wrench? Child abuse!"

"Jeez Ed, could you whine any more?"

"I could, but I choose not to. Hey! Ow! Win, you're killing me here!"

"Well, I need to tweak with your arm, so stop squirming!"

"Oww! I changed my mind, you can't be killing me, since I'm sure that death has to be less painful than this!"

"Just a few more minutes, Mr. Pathetic, quit bellyaching!"

Al chuckled silently to himself as he listened to the two bicker. He had known that he had missed his brother over the past few years, but he hadn't realized just how much he could miss Ed in simple things like a little automail repair.

At first having Ed back had been very strange, especially when he had kept talking in a language that seemed slightly familiar, but no one could really understand. Eventually Al managed to convince Ed that he was really back home and could stop speaking whatever language he was speaking in, but Al had still managed to pick up a few words of the language that Ed later identified as "German."

Al didn't know what it meant, but he knew that every time he had trouble getting Ed out of bed, all he had to do was say "Heil!" and Ed would bolt up right away. Al tried not to use the magic word too often though, considering how Ed scolded him for using it and Al was half-suspecting that he was just swearing in another language. Though the thought was even more confusing, since Ed loved swears and seemed to positively hate the word "heil."

Though once he was actually speaking in a language Al understood, Ed was still very different, and not necessarily in a bad way. He seemed to have gotten more mature while he was away from home, enough to the point where he didn't even blow up when people called him short. Not that he needed to worry about that issue quite as much though, since the time away from home had given him both maturity and height, which Al had sometimes been doubtful Ed would ever get either one.

Al was suddenly jerked from his thoughts as a strangely cool breeze blew through the open window of the bedroom. Al frowned as a strange prickle ran across his skin with the breeze and he curiously walked over to look out the window.

As he leaned out the window, another breeze rippled over Al and he wrinkled his nose. Something about the breeze didn't feel quite right. He looked up at the sky and noticed large, dark clouds looming over the woods ominously. He tapped a finger against the windowsill, then pulled away and walked into the room where Ed and Winry were continuing to playfully bicker with one another.

"Al?" Ed said, suddenly looking up as Al walked into the room with a frown on his face. "Are you alright?"

"Something weird is going on outside, but I'm not sure what," Al told him. Ed frowned and looked over at Winry, who merely sighed and stared screwing the cover plate to his arm back on.

"I suppose it will do for now," she said with a hint of amusement to her voice. "I know you can't help yourself when a mystery practically lands on your doorstep. Just come back will all that extra energy out of your system. And neither of you get yourselves hurt, you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," Ed grinned cockily before flexing his arm anxiously. He then stood up and gave Al the thumbs up before they hurried to the front door.

"Thanks, Winry!" Ed called as he and Al rushed outside. Winry just shook her head and leaned against the wall beside her.

"So predictable," she muttered to herself with a laugh.

"You're right, something feels very wrong out here," Ed muttered with a shiver as a breeze blew across the two. He glanced over in the direction of the woods nearby and his eyes widened in surprise as he took in the sight of the dark clouds looming above the trees.

"Al, when's the last time you saw clouds like that in Reisenburgh?" Ed asked, unable to tear his eyes away from the sight. Al frowned and tried to think of a time he had, but before he could even open his mouth to answer, Ed answered the question himself.

"I only remember seeing those clouds once here before, and it was a long time ago," Ed said softly, still keeping his eyes fixated on the clouds. "Though I might be remembering it wrong, considering I was probably half delusional from all the blood I had lost at the time."

Al paused for a minute as he thought over his brother's words, then his eyes suddenly bugged and he hissed in surprise as he realized what night Ed had to be implying.

"Brother, you don't think that…" Al said slowly, trailing off as he turned to stare at the clouds as well. He had known that something had felt wrong, but he hadn't thought it would have to do with something as serious as that.

"Look, Al," Ed said sharply, finally managing to tear his eyes away from the clouds in order to look at his brother beside him. "I've seen those clouds a few time in my life in different places, but every time I've seen clouds like _that_ it's had to do with the Gate being messed with. Reisenburgh would be damn _lucky_ if that was just the cause of a tornado coming this way."

"So I guess we're going to go check it out then, huh?" Al smirked as he glanced back towards Ed.

"Of course Al," Ed said as he dramatically clapped a hand to his heart. "It is our duty as citizens of this fine little town."

"Brother, what did that other place do to your humor?" Al snickered with a shake of his head as he regarded his brother curiously.

"Improved it, I hope," Ed said simply. "They were rather fond of this tonic that greatly helps humor. Tastes a bit bitter at first, but after a while it is rather pleasant to drink."

"A tonic?" Al said, raising an eyebrow amusedly. "And what was this tonic called?"

"Beer," Ed grinned, and Al cracked up.

Once Al had taken a minute to catch his breath, the two then turned and started cautiously walking into the forest together. They could both feel goosebumps run down their spines as they passed the invisible border between the trees and the town. But they both knew that something as serious as the Gate had to be investigated thoroughly, no matter how weird it felt.

The two brothers suddenly gasped as they laid eyes on a large clearing that was unnaturally circular. All the trees and grass contained within the perimeter of the circle had been burned until the point where it was charcoaled black. Ed and Al could feel the hairs on their arms stand straight up as they walked into the circle and looked around curiously.

"Al, what's that look like in the center of the circle over there?" Ed asked, narrowing his eyes, as he looked towards the spot. Al turned to look at it and gulped nervously as he took in the sight.

"A body…" Al said slowly, trying to fight back the bile that felt like it was threatening to creep up into his throat.

"That's what I thought," Ed nodded in agreement. He paused for a moment, then suddenly made up his mind and rushed forward towards the lump in the center of the circle. Al bit his lip, then took a breath and followed after his brother.

Rigth away Ed and Al both realized that what they had thought to be one body was in reality two people, who both seemed a little worse for wear, but both luckily had all their limbs and hadn't been turned inside out either. Ed carefully leaned down in front of the younger one that was closer to him. After a minute of silence, he glanced over at Al with a slightly relieved look.

"He's still alive," Ed declared before reaching down and grabbing the boy under the arms. "The other one too, I bet could hear his loud breathing a mile away. Come on, we need to get them to Winry's so they can recover and tell us what happened here."

"But Brother," Al stammered, looking uncertainly at the other unconscious male. "What if… what if they're…"

"Homunculi?" Ed filled in, and Al nodded worriedly. "I don't think they are. He doesn't feel like a homunculi, he's too… full of life. Besides Al, even if they are, they're brand new homunculi. Nobody will have had a chance to corrupt them yet. We'll be fine."

"Alright," Al said, seeing the sense in Ed's words but still feeling a bit uneasy. He then took the second of the pair and carefully maneuvered the man so he could bring him back to the Rockbell home.

"Hey, Brother," Al grunted, and Ed looked back over his shoulder. "How did you end up with the lighter guy when you're the stronger between us?" Ed just smirked and shrugged nonchalantly before turning back around.

"Aw, come on Al, you're a big boy now, I'm sure you can handle this," Ed said amusedly. Al just sighed and readjusted his arms to distribute the weight of the man better.

"I sure hope Winry doesn't flip out too bad," Ed sighed as they walked. "At least if they were missing limbs she'd be able to make money off giving them automail." Al opened his mouth and was about to say something when the boy Ed was holding suddenly flicked his eyes open.

"Where am I? Where's Robyn? Why do I have such a huge headache?" the boy streamed off quickly.

"Whoa!" Ed said in surprise as what used to be dead weight in his arms suddenly started moving around wildly. Ed quickly let go of the boy and took a step back.

"You're Edward Elric, aren't you?" the boy suddenly asked, seeming to notice Ed for the first time. "Kari said that Robyn knew you. Where is Robyn? I need to find her!"

"Slow down!" Ed said quickly, motioning with his hands. "I don't know who you mean by Kari, and I'm not really sure about Robyn either. Why do you need to find her so bad?"

"She's my sister," the boy said, quickly standing up. Ed noticed silently how the boy winced and grabbed at his leg as he stood, and figured that the boy had probably hurt his leg somehow.

"Her full name is Roberta Chelsea Davenport. She's kinda small for her age, about this big," the boy continued, showing the height by raising his hand to just below his neck. Ed couldn't help but smirk as he realized that the girl was way shorter than him, enough that she would have probably even been shorter than him before he had managed to gain a few inches.

"And she had black hair and purple eyes," the boy added, looking desperately between Ed and Al. "Please, you have to have known her. I have to find my sister." Al sighed and looked at the ground as he recognized the desperate tone to the plea. He could remember feeling like that himself not very long ago.

"I've never heard of a Robyn-Roberta Davenport," Ed said slowly, and Al could see the boy's face crumble. "But we did know a girl with purple eyes and black hair," Ed added, his thought flicking back into the past. "Her name was Rosé. Could it be possible that she went into hiding and changed her name?"

"But Brother, Rosé had dark skin," Al interjected quickly. "How could those two be related? Besides, Rosé was definitely not that short. She was taller than you, remember?"

"Must have slipped my mind," Ed shrugged carelessly. "Look, you're not from around here, are you?" he asked, turning back to the dark haired boy in front of him. Ed almost instinctively wanted to shout at the boy due to the uncanny resemblance his dark hair had to the way Mustang's would fall in front of his eyes, but Ed decided it would be best to control himself for the time being.

"No, I'm not from around here," the boy said, staring Ed down with confident eyes. "Another world, actually." At that, Ed smirked and nodded.

"I thought it was probably something like that," he said simply, making both the stranger and Al look at him in surprise. "Now, you want to come back to the house with us and tell us about it while Winry patches up your leg? Maybe we don't know this Robyn girl, but we might be able to help you find her." The boy hesitated for a split second, then nodded and started limping confidently forward, despite having no one tell him the way. Ed rolled his eyes and hurried forward to make sure he didn't take a wrong turn.

Meanwhile, Al continued forward slowly as he carried the other still unconscious man, shaking his head and trying to convince himself that the purple eyes of the boy weren't that big of a deal.

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Yeah! I finished it! I was worried for a bit that this would end up being a shorter chapter, but then the characters took the story into their own hands a bit and managed to make it about what I usually have for chapter length, so hurrah! Are you confused yet, or not? Hm? Probably would be better if you've seen the movie, but I don't think you will necessarily need to have seen it either. ;)

Anyway, finals at school are coming, and I'm going to have very limited access to the internet over the summer, so while I may write and finish chapters, they might not necessarily be posted until school is back in session, sorry. :(


	6. The Research Begins

Wheeee…? Yes, yes, I know, these are taking me longer than they used to. I swear, I used to have inspiration for these every single day, but now it's slowed down quite a bit. And I'm not going to slaughter my muses ruthlessly and write when I have no inspiration, so the chapters take a bit, sorry. You want the chapters to come faster, send your muses over to help me. ;)

**I'm a disclaimer, doing my disclaiming thing and telling you all that AdventureAddict doesn't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Boy, is my job dull.**

Play the movie. Yeah, play the—Wait, what movie?

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Chapter Six – The Research Begins **(1)**

"That's my theory, at least," Ed finished, his voice a little raw. It had taken him hours, but he had managed to explain the story of how he had gotten to Germany and back (keeping it very rough and revealing only things he thought Luke would need to know) and then told both Al and Luke his guess of how Robyn was in another parallel universe.

Luke bit his lip and started playing with his fingers, wrapping one hand around the other and then untangling them again. Fingers were fun. Fingers were definitely way better than trying to talk to the crazy blond sitting across from him.

"It makes sense," Al said slowly, tapping a finger against his chin. "The only problem is whether you'd land in the right parallel universe on the next try or have to keep finding ways to hop from one to the next. You'd have to find the Edward Elric in every one of those words and find out if he knew Robyn or not. It sounds dangerous."

"What, for all the Eds, or for all the world hopping?" Ed asked with a grin.

"Both," Al laughed in reply.

Luke's finger twiddling merely sped up. It _did_ sound dangerous. He had no clue what he had been getting himself into when he had decided he'd find his sister no matter what. He just wanted to go home, but home wouldn't be the same without Robyn.

And he knew he'd feel like dirt if he knew that Robyn was probably alive somewhere but he hadn't tried his hardest to find her.

"Luke, say something," Ed sighed, and Luke looked up from his fingers briefly before moving on to fiddling nervously with the watch on his right hand.

"Something," Luke mumbled, and was rewarded with an exasperated sigh from Ed.

"Could you just tell us what you're thinking?" Al cut in before Ed could start yelling. "Just the first thing on your mind, whatever is on your mind."

"I'm worried about my sister," Luke said slowly as he continued to clasp and unclasp his watch. "I'm her big brother, I'm supposed to protect her when I can, but I'm scared to death of jumping from one world to the next."

"Yeah," Ed murmured softly, and Luke looked up from his watch in surprise at the suddenly gentle tone.

"I was worried about Al the entire time I was in Germany," Ed explained, glancing over towards Al sitting beside him. "You're lucky though, you have your father with you willing to travel rather than being torn between two families in two worlds. You don't have to choose between them, once you've got Robyn, you've got your family all right there with you."

"Which makes me all the more of a coward," Luke sighed, looking back down at his watch.

"Now I'll have none of that in this house," a new voice said from the doorway, and Luke looked up in surprise to see a girl with long hair pinned up to the back of her head standing in the doorway. "This is a self-beating free zone, all of you are forbidden from beating on yourselves."

"But Winry—"

"You too Ed, or I'll beat on you with something besides your own words," the girl—Winry, Luke guessed was her name—scolded with a small grin. Ed visibly paled and slid backwards into his seat. Al giggled slightly and Winry winked at him before striding over and sitting in the empty space on the sofa beside Ed. Ed jerked a little at the action, but didn't say anything, and didn't make any action to move closer or farther away.

Luke frowned curiously as he watched the proceedings, unconsciously beginning to fiddle with his watch again.

"Your father seems to be fine," Winry told Luke, who licked his lips and nodded. "A little shaken up, but fine. We'll make sure he's well fed and gets plenty of bed rest once he wakes up, it certainly won't do him any harm. Now, what about you?"

"I'm fine," Luke said with a small wince as he suddenly remembered the pain in his ankle he had been trying to forget while he had been listening to Ed's story.

"Ed said you were limping earlier."

"It's nothing," Luke said dismissively, and Winry rolled her eyes.

"Really," she sighed before slipping off the couch and pulling Luke's leg into her hands. "You're as bad as the automail wonder here."

"Hey, stop picking on me," Ed said with a scowl as he crossed his arms. Winry just grinned and poked at Luke's ankle.

"Yep, I'd say you've sprained it," Winry tutted as she noticed Luke hissing at her probing. "You should get a proper splint for that and stay off it for a while. A few weeks or so, at least."

"Good, that gives us plenty of time to research," Ed said as he stood up.

"Research what?" Winry asked, stopping her examination of Luke's foot enough to turn and give Ed a hard look. "I won't have my patients over-exerting themselves, you know."

"Patients? Why're you making that plural? Luke's your only patient!" Ed scowled.

"Oh no," Winry said, waving her finger at Ed. "I didn't finish tweaking your automail earlier. As soon as I'm done bandaging this sprained ankle, you're next on the list."

"Aw, crap…" Ed moaned softly.

"Don't you give me that tone, Edward, I—"

"Research what?" Luke interjected. He had become increasingly frustrated as the two had continued their playful bickering and farther away from actually answering Winry's initial question. "What do you want to research?"

"Do you want to try and get to your sister or not?" Ed asked curtly. Luke frowned and stared hard at him, finding it suddenly hard to escape from the look those hard golden eyes were giving him. It was amazing how he could go from playing like a puppy dog with Winry to suddenly see into the depths of a person's soul.

"I… Uh… Yeah," Luke stammered.

"Then we'll have to research a way to use alchemy to get you to a different parallel world," Ed said simply. "We don't have the same resources your world did; I doubt you could use that same magic potion you did to get here the first time."

"It wasn't a magic potion, it was chemistry," Luke retorted. Ed just shrugged before looking over at Al.

"Hey you wanna spar in the back? I need to relax before sitting down in front of loads of reading material to sort through," Ed said simply. Al nodded with a grin and jumped to his feet.

"YOU BE CAREFUL WITH THAT AUTOMAIL, I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET!!" Winry called after them angrily. "That boy," she muttered before turning back to Luke's ankle with a laugh. "He drives me crazy, you know?"

"In a good way, or a bad way?" Luke grinned, then winced as Winry started wrapping bandages tightly around his foot.

"It goes both ways, I guess," Winry laughed as she worked.

"Fair enough," Luke shrugged with a smile. He paused, then frowned and looked at the blond girl curiously. "What kind of a name is Winry anyway?"

"My name."

"Your parents named you Winry?"

"It's what I've always been called."

"Huh," Luke pondered over the idea, then shrugged and figured that names must have different acceptances of what was good and what was bad, though "Edward" and "Alphonse" both seemed like common enough names.

Well, common enough for old people. Luke was more used to each parent trying to name their kid so they would have the most unique name in his world. A name like Edward had too much of a chance of being the same as some other kid.

Luke laughed at the thought of how all those parents were really wasting their time by trying to be so unique when there could be countless other doubles of their children out in other worlds that would all have the same names.

"What's so funny?" Winry asked, looking up at him from her bandaging work.

"Ah, I was just thinking" Luke shrugged with a grin and leaned back on his palms. "Back in my world, every one tries to give their kid a name that no one else will have so they can be unique."

"Well, that's silly," Winry shook her head before going back to Luke's leg. "Names are important, but that could just lead to people making up nonsense for their kid that no one can pronounce."

"That does happen sometimes," Luke shrugged.

"What's next, just give everyone a number and sort them by that instead?" Winry frowned, and her wrapping got tighter.

"Well, we do that too," Luke said nervously, wincing at the bandage. "We call them social security numbers. You use it for all sorts of things, even to buy things sometimes. Sometimes people take someone else and use it to steal things, and then it's called identity theft."

"I'm glad I don't live in your world," Winry said, pursing her lips and looking back up at him briefly. "I'd prefer to keep my own identity. There. You're all done. Be careful on that leg."

"Alright," Luke said, standing up carefully and trying to stop himself from putting weight on the tender leg. It was sore alright, but he didn't want to simply lie in bed and look like a weakling either. He had the feeling there was going to be a lot of research to be done, and he didn't want to feel like the weak link among him, Ed and Al.

He knew he could handle a bit of pain, especially if it meant he would be able to see his sister again someday. Hopefully he would be able to really learn all that he was supposed to figure out with Ed and Al so that if the next parallel world he reached was a dud as well, he would be able to move on by himself, without help.

"Hey Winry? I've got on more question," Luke said hesitantly as the blond stood up and wiped her hands on her pants. "What's this "automail" you and Ed kept talking about? I didn't really catch that one."

Winry's eyes lit up excitedly, and Luke got the sudden feeling he would have been better off waiting for Ed to try and explain it.

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**(1)** Oooo, ominous **(2)**

**(2) **Not really, huh?

Taa-daaa! Yay, it's a chapter! Finally, I know. :P I'm going to be going on vacation later today though, so I won't be able to hack away at a computer for a while. Here's hoping that a change of scenery and some fresh air will do my inspiration good. I'm bringing along my special notebook just in case it does. ;)

Oh yeah, and school starts about two weeks after I get back, I believe. Bleh. :P But, I do have a creative writing class, so that's awesome. Schoooool… -twitches-

Again, sorry for the delay. –Blows raspberry at muses-


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